The audacity of a dope: Dick Cheney

As if he hasn’t caused the United States enough damage, former Vice President Dick Cheney has crawled out of his hidey hole once again to criticize President Obama and the framework for the Iranian nuclear deal.

In a radio interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt, according to a story from The Hill, Cheney called the deal a “terrible burden for the next president” and called Obama the “worst president we’ve ever had.”

It’s probably not worth paying much attention to the rantings of Darth Cheney, since his actions during his eight years in the Bush administration left a “terrible burden for the next president,” which Obama has spent much of his time in office cleaning up. But let’s list a few of those actions:

Cheney lied about the reasons for invading Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction, and Saddam Hussein was not trying to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.

The war in Iraq did not “pay for itself.” It was not over in a matter of “weeks, not months.” Instead, it destroyed a country and allowed terrorists to flood in and form the Islamic State. It cost the U.S. more than $2 trillion, it killed more than 4,000 U.S. troops, and it injured more than 32,000. The number of Iraqi dead vary — no estimate could be accurate in a destroyed country — but low estimates are at least 150,000, and high counts are more than 1 million.

Cheney instituted an illegal policy of torture for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. When the U.S. prosecutes waterboarding when it’s done by others, it’s also torture when it’s done by U.S. officials.

Cheney, Bush, and others in the administration weakened rules for Wall Street — a major factor in the Great Depression of 2007-09.

Cheney and his henchmen outed a working undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame.

By ignoring Iran for eight years, Iran was able to build up the country’s number of nuclear centrifuges from 164 to 8,000.

Oh, and don’t forget that he shot his friend in the face and didn’t bother to call authorities about it for hours.

Remember that this is a man who much of the world considers a war criminal.

Cheney is now falsely claiming that Obama is trying to undermine the United States with this deal. But a story in New York magazine points out that the Cheney-Bush lack of action over eight years did more than anything else to let Iran gain power in the region. “A Cheney-style analysis of the Bush administration’s Iran policy would conclude that it was carrying out a deliberate plan to elevate Iran’s standing,” the story says.

Of course, Cheney and his daughter, the equally odious Liz Cheney, are hawking a new book, so they’ve got to make the rounds repeating outrageous talking points to try to boost sales. They’re going on friendly venues and preaching to a choir that no doubt will lap up their lies; it’s up to the rest of the media to remind people of actual and accurate history.

Dick Cheney doesn’t have any right to criticize. What he needs to do is apologize.

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